About this project

Kern and Burn: The Book

$18,502

pledged of $7,500 goal

480

backers

About Kern and Burn

Kern and Burn invites design entrepreneurs—those who pursue self-initiated projects, to think for themselves, and channel passions into self-made careers—to share their perspectives. They are designers who dream big and burn the midnight oil to forge their own paths.

In December 2011, we started the blog, 100 Days of Design Entrepreneurship where we share our process and research for the book. Each day, we post an inspiring story, article, or interview on design entrepreneurship. We have worked hard to curate interesting content and the outpouring of kind words that we've received has reinforced our excitement for the project.

The blog presents short, inspirational excerpts from our discussions. The printed book expands on these conversations and presents long-format features, interviews, pivotal essays, original writing, and interludes from the Kern and Burn authors.

We encourage our peers to challenge the traditional role of graphic designers by presenting the perspectives and experiences of those who have used design to do more. We celebrate designers who solve big problems, aim to delight their audiences, make meaningful work that benefits others, and most importantly, live their lives to the fullest. We believe good design is all about good people. Our book is about good people who happen to be designers.

We have talked to design leaders and innovators at startups like Twitter, Airbnb, and Kickstarter, founders such as Khoi Vinh and Cameron Koczon, designers that craft products like Peter Buchanan-Smith and Studio Neat, those who champion side projects like SwissMiss and Christian Helms, and those who believe in the importance of writing and self-publishing, like The Manual. See our website for a complete list of contributors. We will continue to add new contributors as we progress through the 100 Days of Design Entrepreneurship.

We're honored to share their stories with our readers. The launch of our Kickstarter project marks the beginning of a wonderful collaboration with an even larger community. As always, thanks for joining us on the journey.

The Book

We are making a book that captures the energy and excitement of design entrepreneurs. A book that inspires the design community to Kern and Burn—to perfect our craft and to work obsessively hard. It is a book that focuses on designers' lives, decisions, and aspirations rather than their techniques and color palettes. A book that challenges our peers to believe in themselves, and think about their lives as a design problem.

As we make our way through the 100 Days of Design Entrepreneurship we edit our discussions, curate our interviews, compile essays, reflect on what we've learned, and work to craft a book that is as beautiful as our content is rich. The format and narrative of the book will evolve through the process.

The book's title is also in the works, we'll announce it when the time is right! We've adopted the startup mentality and are putting this project out there before it's perfect, packaged, and ready to ship, (heck, before it even has a title), but we like that. That means we get the chance to involve the design community in our design process, the book's production, and we get to share the reward of creating something meaningful, together.

Rewards

If we reach our goal, with your contribution, we will use the funding to hire an editor, refine our design, and begin production.

Our reward levels include some fun additions to the printed book, including a digital copy, a small-format process book with highlights from the 100 Days of Design Entrepreneurship, a letterpress pica ruler bookmark (for the Kern in all of us), and a series of hand-pulled screen printed posters.

Supporters will receive exclusive updates as we develop the book. We encourage your feedback throughout the process, and are excited to see it all take shape.

Kern and Burn Team

Kern and Burn is a collaboration between Jessica Karle Heltzel and Tim Hoover. They are both finishing their MFA degrees in graphic design at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

Thanks to Public School and Christian Helms for starring in the video, and Eric R. Mortensen for being awesome. Music: Finding a Leaf in Your Girlfriends Hair by Lullatone.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

All of the above + A custom letterpressed pica ruler bookmark (for the Kern in all of us), a small-format process book with highlights from the 100 Days of Design Entrepreneurship, and your name listed as a supporter on our website with a link to you

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $2,000 or more
About $2,000

All of the above + 5 additional copies of the printed book, and Jess and Tim will come to you and do a Kern and Burn lecture for your studio, business, or school anywhere in the US, AND, we'll buy you beers and give you hugs.